Should I be upset at paying £300 for haircut

[charlieginger1987]

Hi ladies,
Have waited 7 months to get my hair done and finally went today. I got a full head of balayage highlights, a root tint to cover my greys and a cut and blow dry. The website was really unclear and it said £130 for a full head of balayage. Knowing sometimes that hairdressers add optional extras I budgeted £180 just in case. I got to the till, the receptionist seemed awkward, didn't confirm the price straightaway, so I asked her what it was, and £300 appeared on the credit card machine. I can only guess that she didn't say the figure out loud because she was embarrassed to charge me that much. I didn't want to say too much in front of a full salon full of people but I simply said "wow that's expensive?" She shrugged and didn't say anything but "your e-receipt will be sent directly to you". I thought I'd best pay and then query the receipt later as I already felt so embarrassed and caught off guard.

Looking at the receipt they have charged me for:
£130 full head of balayage
£65 full head of permanent colour
£65 ladies cut and finish
£35 olaplex
£5 tip
Total: £300

Am I right to be completely shocked at the price of this?? It did take 4 hours and I have long thick hair but really? Have you ever heard of a haircut this expensive and fellow hair stylists, does this price sound reasonable to you?

Needless to say I have sent Rush an email but am I being unreasonable questioning the price of this haircut?

I really don’t know how so many people get such cheap colours!

Cuts can be cheap, but colour never is in my experience.

You can buy a full bottle of olaplex shampoo and conditioner for £50 , my hairdresser charges £75 for full colour cut and blowdry

£130 full head of balayage this should have included the full head of permanent colour and the olaplex. Surely without those things the balayage would have failed? I pay £120 odd for my hair including cut and olaplex. I think they over charged you. Massively.

Bought the Olaplex products from Amazon based on people's comments on this thread, arrived yesterday and used this morning... ummm haven't noticed any difference to my usual cheap brand. Total waste of money unless the said benefits are cumulative

@Ferrylights

Bought the Olaplex products from Amazon based on people's comments on this thread, arrived yesterday and used this morning... ummm haven't noticed any difference to my usual cheap brand. Total waste of money unless the said benefits are cumulative

Have you bought the actual treatment or the shampoo and conditioner?

The shampoo & conditioner have such a tiny amount of olaplex in them that they aren’t going to make a big difference.

Plus, products from Amazon aren’t always genuine products. You are better off buying from licensed retailers.

You may have been mischarged for the colour and should have checked at the time saying that you think they had made a mistake as your roots are usually included. You can still query this.

Other than that, the prices are all normal rip off salon prices. Olaplex is always extra as is a cut although you may have been charged twice for a blow dry as the balayage should also include a blow dry, double check this.

Last time I had a full head of highlights and a cut and blow dry it was £215 and that was over a year ago, salons are just a rip off.

@Rejoiningperson

I really don’t know how so many people get such cheap colours!

Cuts can be cheap, but colour never is in my experience.

I agree. I would never take a chance with my colour. Did home bleaching etc as a teenager but my hair is one thing I wouldn't cut corners with

I pay £120 for a balayage and colour every 3rd appointment and £80 for the other 2 in between. The extra is when I need more blondes in as my ends start to grow out - that's for a home hairdresser who has worked in mid/high end salons for 30 years

@hunterhearsthelmsley. Its the shampoo and bonding conditioner, it's definitively Olaplex, not a knock off. Wasn't cheap but expected some noticeable difference if it carries the Olaplex brand. If it"s not fit for purpose it shouldn't be sold as such. Unimpressed thus far.

This thread has really highlighted what I can only assume, are regional differences.

I live in a London suburb (a nice one but not Chelsea/Kensington/Westminster) abs even out independent hairdressers have prices pretty much as detailed in the OP. If I want cut, root tint and any kind of highlight/balayage, I mentally budget at least £200. More if I get a senior stylist and have any treatments.

I am envious of people getting all that for £80

@SheenMcQueen

This thread has really highlighted what I can only assume, are regional differences.

I live in a London suburb (a nice one but not Chelsea/Kensington/Westminster) abs even out independent hairdressers have prices pretty much as detailed in the OP. If I want cut, root tint and any kind of highlight/balayage, I mentally budget at least £200. More if I get a senior stylist and have any treatments.

I am envious of people getting all that for £80

I live about an hour and half outside of London and pay similar prices to you.

[quote thenerveofsome]@waterlego Great advice, I'll do that. I went to them last March and did opt for the olaplex but received a new customer discount.

For all the good it did me, because the manager still tried to hard sell me some overpriced shampoo and conditioner afterwards because my hair was 'damaged'

I had to laugh.

Not everybody can afford to drop £300, I certainly can't. Salons aren't the only ones affected by covid so whilst I understand them wanting to recoup their losses they should be able to do that without ripping people off given how busy they are now.

Do let us know if you get a response from the salon OP, please do question the second head of dye (wtf!)

I'm sorry this happened to you and I really hope you haven't been left in financial hardship because of it.[/quote]
Why are you going back when you have already had the hard sell never mind on top of the OP experience ?

@SheenMcQueen

This thread has really highlighted what I can only assume, are regional differences.

I live in a London suburb (a nice one but not Chelsea/Kensington/Westminster) abs even out independent hairdressers have prices pretty much as detailed in the OP. If I want cut, root tint and any kind of highlight/balayage, I mentally budget at least £200. More if I get a senior stylist and have any treatments.

I am envious of people getting all that for £80

I live in a nice town I n the Home Counties and only pay what I do because my friend works from her own house so no overheads

When I had my cut and colour done in a salon, I paid anything from £140 to £180 - or £270 the one time I went to Rush

Dayum my daughter had kittens it cost me a tenner extra cos of covid for my roots and highlights done, in total £100 and £15 for a wet trim for her, she did not even trim my hair said it didnt need it considering its not been touched since December i was surprised. . .

@Timeandtune

A friend of mine queried the bill in a fancy Glasgow hairdressers. They had charged her separately for 4 different colours of highlights. When she dug her heels in and asked for a full breakdown of the costs they were actually charging for towels. She refused to pay.

I had a similarly extensive experience in a city centre salon- wonder if it's the same one? On top of that I didn't even like it! They can be so, bloody pushy.

Thankfully my hairdresser for years now trained with a top city salon, worked for a few top names but bought his own, small place way out of town so charges way less. I pay £70 for cut, highlights (inc toner) and blow-dry; when I just need a cut he pops on a toner for no cost and I get a posh shampoo and conditioner at Xmas. Now that's worth it!

@Cabamba

I zip over my son's hair with a no.2 cut and he does mine with a no.8. Total outlay shears at circa £30, renewable about every 5-7yrs.

Slight change of subject here but I do exactly the same for my dog. The shears are considerably more expensive (I paid almost £200 for them) but at over £40 per cut and 2 or 3 cuts per year, my dog is now 7yrs old so my shears have definitely paid for themselves by now and they're still going strong!

That is obscene. I understand feeling on the spot though. Compose an email querying the two full heads. I agree it seems you're literally paying for two heads, not your one head of colour. The cut price is equally obscene. What do they do to justify that. Ask ref the treatment too. You can say if you believed this is what you'd be paying you would never have gone ahead.

"This thread is hilarious, now I completely understand why so many people walk around with terrible hair.
I'm surprised no one's been on saying they use their manky nail clippers and coffee granules to dye their hair!"

I had a similar experience to the OP last year. There were prices at the salon I went to, but my total was significantly higher then what I expected. Super painful lesson learnt, but I didn't know I should have to ask specifically how much everything would be . The owner should have made it clear as well before we started but he didn't.

Changing the subject a bit- does everyone get balayage these days and not foil highlights? Should I be changing to balayage when I finally get an appointment to refresh mine?

We’ve all been there. Maybe you could phone/pop in and ask to speak to owner or manager and say how you feel. If you’re happy to pay that amount fine, but for others they’ll need to know in advance what costs they’ll incur. It’s just not fair to be told at the payment stage.

I remember going to pay at my regular place and was told ‘our prices have gone up’, nothing was said at any stage from arrival, washing and styling. There was no notice either and although I was seething, I just handed over my card. I could have kicked myself for not saying anything (it’s not fair on customers to not be told beforehand and also I’m sure there’s a legal issue in their about displaying wrong prices!). I didn’t go back.

You shouldn’t of had to pay for the colour if you had the balayage in my opinion or at least just the price for roots and Olaplex should have been offered before it was added on to the price and discussed with you. I’d call and speak with the manager.

Individually, the treatments seem reasonable if not a bit on the pricey side but I don't understand why you ended up paying h for a full head balayage AND a full head colour. They're two completely different things, didn't even think you could do both??

Same prices in Oxford!

@HaveringWavering

Changing the subject a bit- does everyone get balayage these days and not foil highlights? Should I be changing to balayage when I finally get an appointment to refresh mine?

I tried balayage for the first time last year and oh boy, it's amazing! A lot more natural than highlights, and brilliant for lockdown - it really blends in with your natural roots, so the regrowth was a lot less noticeable. I am going for a balayage next week after 8 months of no colouring and my hair still looks good!